[Updated NOVEMBER 2017] Best Image Sizes for Social Media

Unfortunately for us, each social media network has it's own ideal image size when posting photos, or uploading profile and cover photos. Below I've outlined minimum required image sizes for the most common platforms. These are the minimum best dimensions, so if you have a photo that is bigger (but is the same ratio) that will be fine too. For example use something twice as big as what I've listed - this may prevent your images from blurring. Note that Facebook compresses images so they take up less space, so if you upload an image that is too big, you may find it displays fuzzy or blurry.

Facebook

Horizontal or square photos always work best on Facebook. If you upload a tall picture, Facebook will crop the top & bottom and people will have to click to see the full photo.

Profile Picture: 180x180 pixels (it will display at 170x170 on desktop and 128x128 on mobile, but needs to be uploaded at 180x180)

Cover Photo: 828x315 pixels on desktop (and displays as 640x360 pixels on mobile). On mobile, Facebook will crop each side of your photo so that the middle 640 pixels are displayed - so make sure you put the most important info in the middle of your photo. To make sure the photo works in both places, upload a photo that is at least 828x360 pixels - but bigger is better!

Note: people have been reporting that cover photos look fine on mobile but are cropped funny on desktop. If your uploaded cover photo is very wide, but not much taller than the minimum requirements, each side of your photo will be cropped out on mobile. However, if your photo is also much taller than the minimum requirement, instead of cropping, Facebook may 'shrink' your photo to display more because there is more vertical space on mobile than there is on desktop.

Link Preview Photo: 1200x627 pixels - link preview photos work best as a horizontal rectangle. Remember, this is the size of the photo that Facebook is pulling from the webpage. If the photo is not big enough to display without being totally pixelated, the photo will display as a small square preview. If the photo is a square or vertical, Facebook will crop the top and bottom of the photo.

Event Cover Photo: 1920x1080 pixels

Group Cover Photo: 820x461 pixels

Ad Photos: varies depending on the format of your ad

Carousel: 1080×1080 pixels

Single Image: 1200x628 pixels

Slideshow: widescreen (16:9) is recommended, but you will have the ability to crop your photos to square or vertical ratios

Canvas: 1080x1920 pixels

Post Photo (single): 1200x1200 pixels for square or 1200x717 pixels for a rectangle. If your image is not 1200px tall, it will still look good on the newsfeed. If your image is not 1200px wide it will look awkward. You can upload multiple photos to a post and Facebook will arrange them into a grid.

Twitter

Profile Picture: 400x400 pixels

Header Photo: 1500x500 pixels. Note that a small area in the bottom left will be covered by part of your profile picture.

Post Photo (single): 440x220 pixels minimum, but recommended size is 1024x512 pixels. You can attach up to 4 photos in a single tweet and Twitter will arrange them into a grid that is 440x220. See the slideshow below for examples.

If you attach a photo that is taller than 512 pixels, it will display in full on desktop, but will be cropped on mobile, leaving the middle pixels displayed.

LinkedIn

Article Featured Image: 744x400 pixels

Profile Photo: 500x500 pixels

Profile Background Photo: 1584x396 pixels (your profile photo covers up a small section in the middle at the bottom, so avoid placing text at the bottom of the photo), and will be cropped drastically on each side on mobile - keep the important stuff in the middle

Company Logo: 300x300 pixels

Company Cover Photo: 1536x768 pixels. Note that the bottom third of the photo will be covered by your business information, so don't put anything important there.

Post Photo: 490x325 pixels (for both desktop AND mobile)

Instagram

Profile Picture: 160x160 pixels

Post: width of at least 1080 pixels. Note that it is no longer mandatory to have a square image on Instagram, however, images displayed on your profile grid will be cropped to display as square, so square photos are still recommended. Images that are too long or don’t have enough height may be automatically cropped by Instagram and you won’t be able to post the full image.

Stories: 1080x1920 pixels

Pinterest

Board Cover: Board cover size no longer matters, since you will select the image to display from your pins (or it will take the 3 most recent pins by default). For reference, the main image on the board will display as square.

Profile Picture: 280x280 pixels

Ideal Pin Size: width of at least 736 pixels, height of 1104-1840 pixels (anything taller will be cropped in the preview)

Resources

There are also some shortcuts to making the perfect-sized photos, and that's using tools which have built-in size templates! Check these out:

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I am a social media trainer and certified coach who specializes in helping women entrepreneurs uncover their social media confidence by equipping them with the skills, tools, and resources to be effective and productive on social media! I offer both group & 1:1 training and coaching, and am developing online courses for entrepreneurs to learn at their own pace. If you’d like to learn more about my style and get a ton of free resources, tips, and coaching you can become a student of Social Media School for Heartful Entrepreneurs at zero cost!